ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

PMAC (cryptography)

Okay kiddo, let me explain PMAC to you like you're five!

So, do you know what a secret code is? For example, let's say that you and your friend have a secret code where "banana" means "hello". If you want to say "hello" to your friend without anyone else knowing, you can just say "banana" instead!

Well, cryptography is all about creating secret codes that only certain people can understand. And PMAC is one kind of cryptography that helps make sure that your secret code stays as secret as possible!

PMAC stands for "Pipelined Message Authentication Code". Try saying that three times fast! Basically, a PMAC is a way of checking to make sure that a message hasn't been tampered with or changed.

Imagine you're sending a secret message to your friend over the internet. You don't want anyone else to be able to read it, but you also don't want anyone to be able to change it without you knowing. That's where PMAC comes in!

To make a PMAC, you use a special algorithm (which is like a set of instructions) to take your secret message and turn it into a "tag". This "tag" is like a digital fingerprint that's unique to your message. It's kind of like how you have your own unique fingerprints!

When your friend gets your secret message, they can use the same algorithm to recreate the "tag". If the "tag" matches the one you sent, that means the message hasn't been tampered with or changed.

So that's PMAC in a nutshell! It's just one way that people can make sure their secret messages stay secret and don't get changed along the way.